


time is the longest distance between two places

by troubledpancakes



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-30
Updated: 2014-11-30
Packaged: 2018-02-27 14:59:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2697218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/troubledpancakes/pseuds/troubledpancakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clarke is a time traveler.</p><p>Bellamy is a time traveler. </p><p>They are both alone-- and they keep having fleeting moments in each jump circuit. </p><p>What happens when a connection more powerful than time erupts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	time is the longest distance between two places

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt for [bellarkefanfiction](http://bellarkefanfiction.tumblr.com) \-- I am a part of the writing team there.
> 
> "Time travelers Bellarke!AU -- they're the only time travelers alive and now and again they bump into each other over the universe and always end up in trouble together saving each other."

 

i.

_October 1905_

She first saw him as he passed the small dress shop she was working at. It was before it all happened. Clarke was seventeen, trying to learn a trade to support her family after her father was killed in elevated rail accident.

He was smiling, talking to a small girl with similar olive skin and dark hair. His eyes crinkled when he laughed-- but then he was gone. Clarke settled back into her sewing and a year later she felt the first circuit pulling at her.

ii.

_April 2005_

She was confused, a warm prickling sensation behind her eyes erupted and her vision began to blur. She squeezed her eyes shut and when she opened them again, she was standing in the middle of the road-- strange machines blaring alarm at her.

A girl named Raven found her-- she told her what was happening, that she was a Traveler. That she would travel through time and that there were people, acolytes, everywhen to help her adjust to each circuit.

Her senses were in overdrive. Why was 2005 so loud? Her head was pounding and not because she was about to travel again, but because she had been ripped from every time and place she'd ever known.

The first few months, Clarke stayed with Raven, poring over history books and researching fashion and customs and memorizing presidents. Four months after she arrived in 2005, Clarke felt the warm prickle for the second time and Raven took her to the channel and explained that if she left from a channel, she'd arrive in one and it would be easier to contact the acolytes and adjust to the new period.

"But just remember--"

But Clarke left before she finished that sentence.

iii.

_November 1923_

The first time Bellamy saw her, he was sitting in a dark corner of a sleepy speakeasy-- cigarette in hand and a cool glass sitting on the table beside him. She was wearing red. Her hair was cut in a short bob, framing her face sharply and she carried a fan.

He watched her glide through the room, she demanded the attention of every well to-do man in the vicinity with her soft curves and entrancing blue eyes. He thought she was beautiful, and if he was a different man-- in a different time, he'd approach her.

There was a commotion above them, a loud scuffle and shouting ensued. The woman's eye darted, assessing the room for any available escape route. Bellamy got to his feet-- his hand finding the small of her back quickly as he guided her towards a panel behind the bookshelf. With a quick look over his shoulder, they slipped through the passageway.

"Where are we going?"

"This leads out to an alley behind the building, in the opposite direction of the way the cops are coming."

They pass a small lantern and light flickers across their faces, her faces scrunches up-- as if digging deep in the recesses of her mind to put the fleeting feeling of familiarity at ease.

They reached the entrance to the tunnel, damp air exploding onto their skin.

"Take the road, keep in the shadows until you reach the third cross street. You should be free from any danger there."

The woman's features softened and she dipped her head, pulling her shawl tightly around her arms. "Thank you."

"Yes, ma'am," Bellamy bowed slightly and took off in the other direction, her perfume lingering momentarily until a large gust of wind swept through taking her with it.

iv.

_1864_

  
Clarke was there twelve hours.  
  
_1908_

She saw her mom again.  
  
_1974_

What the hell are bell-bottoms?

vii.

_July 1932_

Clarke pulled on the coarse linen outfit and made her way out of the quiet room that she has appeared in. Upon reaching daylight, it seemed she was in the middle of what appeared to be a housing complex-- makeshift walls and clothes lines, an array of people loitering, boiling water and mending holes in tattered linen garments.

She felt heavy, her body had gone through four circuits in the span of a week in Clarkes biological clock-- and her muscles ached and her head was fuzzy. Her circuits had grown so frequent and demanding that  sometimes she was barely able to get three hours of sleep before the familiar tug woke her, reminding her she didn't belong here.

She wandered the rows of shanties and observed the families-- children running about with no shoes. She started to feel the warm tug behind her eyes, apparently she wasn't stay here very long. She caught a glimpse of a man carrying a small child over his shoulder-- the child squealing with laughter. Her heart sped up slightly when he smiled, his olive skin glowed and he had freckles dancing across the bridge of his nose.

She'd seen him before. Just a few days ago, well, technically nearly ten years ago. He looked like he hadn't aged a day. He was strong-- healthy looking.

The tingling grew stronger and she knew she had to return to the channel before travelling, otherwise she'd be without her acolyte supplies and stuck in a new period, completely out of dress.

She hurried past him, her arm brushing against him in the narrow pathway and his body stiffened-- she felt his gaze on him but she didn't dare turn around. She couldn't afford it.

viii.

_August 1918_

She saw him when she fell into 1918, it was then she realized something was different. His dark eyes found her across the room, and her mouth dropped open slightly.

Suddenly his hand flew to the bridge of his nose and his face contorted, he backed out of the busy room and disappeared into the shadows.

She followed him, but she reached the door and there was no trace of the stranger who seemed to be following her through time.

ix.

_July 1969_

Bellamy smiled at the televisions in the store window. Everyone of them was playing the coverage of Buzz Aldrin landing on the moon. He'd seen a lot of versions of this world-- how technology had developed and expeditions into space had come to pass. It was no 2105, but it was still magical.

There was a soft breeze and Bellamy inhaled a floral scent. His senses went into overdrive-- the woman. He spun around, eyes searching the crowd. He caught sight of long blonde curls turning a corner-- could that be her?

He shoved his way through the mass of people that had gathered around the electronics store, and came to a reeling halt when he rounded the corner. She was flipping through a box of records that sat outside of a small shop.

He stopped to breathe. It couldn't be, could it?

He kept his distance, waiting for her to turn his way. He wanted to see her face.

She said something to the shop owner who was sitting in a chair out front and they shared a laugh before she waved and turned, head lowered as she was putting something away in her purse. She raised her gaze and stopped abruptly in her tracks.

Bellamy felt like all the air rushed out of him, “You.”

Confusion rushed over her face, “You--” she replied pointedly.

Her head started to prickle, “No. No, no, no, not now.” Clarke pressed her palm to her temple and shut her eyes. “I have to--” she stumbled past him, “go, I’m sorry--”

“Wait!” He grabbed at her wrist only to have her yank it away.

She shook her head, “I have to go!”

She stumbled away down a nearby alley and Bellamy turned to follow, rounding to corner just in time to see her disappear.

“Oh my god.” He breathed.

x.

_February 2007_

Clarke opened her eyes, they were wet. She blinked furiously, trying to shake the feeling that had swallowed her whole. She had barely made it to the channel, and she spotted the pile of clothing and a card that said _Welcome to 2007_ in a sloppy cursive, and there was an address printed on the bottom-- she knew it.

Twenty minutes later she was banging on Raven’s door.

“Hey lady, how’s-- whoa, hey…” Clarke was pale and shaking. Raven grabbed her arms as she stumbled through the doorway and collapsed on the futon. She ran to the kitchen and brought Clarke a large glass of water and she held it to her lips.

“What’s happening?” Clarke’s voice wavered.

“I-- I don’t know, I've never seen this happen to any of the others.”

Clarke curled up with her knees to her chest on the couch and Raven draped a blanket over her.

“How many circuits have you been through?”

“Um,” she sniffled, “I think thirteen or fourteen now, but the, uh, last six have been almost every other day. A tremor jolted through Clarke’s body, and she went to wipe to away the fresh tears that were betraying her.

Raven pulled out her phone and disappeared into the kitchen-- Clarke tried to listen but she was talking in hushed tones and she was having a hard time focusing.

She returned to the futon with another glass, this time filled with an orange-ish liquid.

“Drink this, Clarke.”

“What is it?”

“It will help.”

Clarke nodded and pulled herself up so she could drink without spilling all over herself.

“What’s in it?” Clarke started, but her eyelids felt heavy and her breathing was slowing.

“Shhh…” Raven was stroking her hair as she drifted off to sleep.

xi.

_July 1969_

Bellamy was reeling.

Another traveler? He thought he was on his own… he’d never-- there had never been-- he wasn’t alone.

Except, he was, again.

He got back to his apartment that he paid cash for. He’d only had six jumps-- that’s what he called them, he didn’t really know what they were. He had to figure it out on his own.

Five more months pass and he can’t stop thinking about the girl he saw disappear. She was like him-- he needed her, he needed _someone._

xii.

_February 2007_

Clarke began to wake up slowly, her senses prickling back to life and her mouth cottony.

“Morning, sunshine.”

Clarke dragged her eyes to the girl sitting in a chair opposite her with a mug in her hands.

“How long--” Clarke tried to sit up.

“Sixteen hours,” Raven interjected.

Clarke slumped back into the couch, mind still foggy from sleep and body still aching.

Raven leaned forward, elbows resting on her knees as she held the mug in front of her. “I gave you a special neutralizer that should help slow your jumps. It’s not a cure, by any means-- most Travelers I met only go through eight or nine jumps in their life.

Clarke ran her fingers through her knotted hair, trying to process-- “I met someone, someone like me… I think.”

Raven cocked her head, “I wasn't aware of any other current Travelers, most of them have finished their final circuit, according to the records.”

“I-- I don’t know, he recognized me, I think he saw me jump-- he knew what was happening.”

“You've seen him before, haven’t you?”

Clarke nodded, “A few times, but at first I thought it was nothing, my jumps were fairly close in history, maybe ten years? He easily could have been older, but then I saw him in my last circuit, 1969.”

Raven deflated, she seemed lost for words. “Huh.”

“Yeah, huh.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, “The neutralizer should give you a few weeks, I think-- I’m not sure how your body will process it. _Thirteen circuits._ ”

Clarke didn’t even know how old she was anymore, her first few circuits were month long trips-- she’d been travelling for at least two years. She felt a wave of emotion pour over her-- and she started to cry. Her whole body shook.

“I’m so exhausted, Ray.”

Raven jumped from the chair and wrapped her arms around Clarke, gently rocking them as Clarke clutched at her.

Seventeen days later, Clarke was gone.

xiii.

_March 2048_

Bellamy didn’t jump until six months after the meeting with the woman. He thought about her everyday, her floral scent still burned his throat. His seventh jump, he landed on a dark playground. He knew he had jumped forward.

He just wanted to find her, but how?

Bellamy feels a tug on his jacket and he looks down, a small child with dark skin and wild hair looks up at him.

“Howja do that?”

Bellamy’s mouth dropped, “What?” _Why was this child out here in the middle of the night?_

“You just--” the child waved his hands around, “appeared.”

“Brigan,” a booming voice broke through and a larger man, maybe in his early thirties stood a few feet away. Bellamy stiffened as the he approached, the child running back to be lifted into the man’s arms.

“So, the mysterious travelling man. The records told me you were floating around somewhere.”

Bellamy scowled, “What are you talking about?”

“My name is Wells, if you come back to my home, I’ll explain everything.”

Brigan was looking at Bellamy with a goofy grin, “Daddy will make you spaghetti!”

Bellamy couldn't help but smile, and nodded cautiously at Wells, “Okay.”

The three of them were soon gathered around a table, a large bowl of spaghetti in the middle and Brigan twirled it with his fork, the red sauce splattering about.

“So, let me get this straight,” Bellamy sighed, “There are acolytes all over the place with access to these records and I've been jumping around for almost three years _on my own_?”

Wells frowned, “Unfortunately, you were not discovered during your first circuit-- therefore you haven’t traveled through any channels, only through spontaneous jumps. Sometimes it takes two or three jumps before a Traveler is hooked up with the acolyte network.”

“But seven circuits!” Bellamy said, more harshly than he intended.

Wells shrugged sadly.

“There was a girl--” Bellamy said suddenly.

“Clarke,” Wells replied knowingly. “Yes, she’s still active.”

“How do I find her, is there any way for me to control my jump? Can I go back to the last place I saw her?”

“Unfortunately, it is extremely dangerous to return to a place where your body already exists. There could be unforeseen consequences to the mind or the body. You’d have to meet her in a new time or place.”

“And if that never happens?”

Wells is quiet, and he pushes the chair back from the table and leaves the room-- Brigan has now managed to create a bib of spaghetti dangling from his shirt collar. A few minutes pass and Wells returns with a large book.

“The records are usually fairly inconclusive, time travel is tricky and dangerous. There is a channel-- and an elixir of sorts, that could theoretically send you to a _specific_ time of your choice.”

“I’ll do it,” Bellamy stood up, then sat down again, “but how do I find when she is?”

“I have a record of all her circuits that she made contact with an acolyte-- you might find her in 2014.”

Bellamy’s mind was racing a hundred miles an hour, “Okay. Let’s do it.”

Wells pursed his lips, “I've never used this method before, I don’t know what kind of outcome it could have.”

“I don’t care, if it means I can find someone like me-- I’ll do it.”

Wells closed the record book and dipped his head at Bellamy, “Let’s go.”

xiv.

_December 2014_

After Clarke jumped, she arrived just seven years into the future. Raven still lived in the same place, but she was older now-- married, had a kid. She stayed with Raven for a few days before finding a new place to crash.

She stayed in a hotel for a while, and after a few weeks of jump-silence, she decided to find an apartment. This had been her longest circuit since her third one, when she spent four months flitting through speakeasies and swing dancing. She kept to herself mostly, she was still wary of making any connections, only to jump again.

She was reading in her bed when she heard a knock at the door. Puzzled, she wrapped her big sweater around her and padded towards the door. Her breath shot right out of her when she opened up to the man with the olive skin and freckles.

“Oh my god,” she whispered. “How...” she trailed off.

“Hi,” he offered. “Can I come in?”

Mouth still gaping Clarke snapped to, “Yes, of course, hi-- come in.”

She pulled the wooden barrier back to allow entrance into her small apartment. It was snowing outside and her furnace was a little rusty, but she had a small space heater in the corner and a pile of blankets in a basket below the window.

Bellamy turned around to Clarke close the door behind her, watching her trying to process.

“You-- you were,” Clarke stuttered.

“I was, I had no idea there was anyone else like me.”

Clarke’s shoulders dropped, “You didn’t know? What about the acolytes and the records.”

Bellamy shrugged, “I was alone.”

Clarke stepped forward and brushed a hand along his arm, “I’m so sorry.”

Her touch set him on fire, his whole body alert to hers.

“I’m Bellamy, by the way,” he managed to breathe.

“Clarke.”

Clarke looked like she wanted to cry, she just kept staring at him.

She looked at him and saw all of time encompassed, her heart sped up and her face was warm.

“Do you feel that, too?” Clarke hummed, an undeniable energy filling the space between them.

Bellamy nodded and stepped closer to her. He’d never even had a conversation with this girl, and every inch of his body was screaming at the brush of her fingers and the shape of her lips. He knew nothing and everything all at the same time.

He stepped closer to her delicately, his hands ghosting along her arm as he moved to touch her face. His calloused fingers prickled against her jaw and she tucked her face close as she closed her eyes.

Her fingers found his shirt and she grazed over his torso, stopping to play with the top button-- both of them exploring cautiously. An almost magnet like attractive fell between them, their bodies buzzing with energy and Bellamy leaned forward, his forehead resting against hers-- breaths mingling together until suddenly their lips met.

A warm wave of energy swept through them both, jolting them both back a step, breathing heavily.

“I-- what was that?” Clarke panted.

Bellamy shook his head, “I don’t know.”

Clarke’s phone rang and she pulled away from Bellamy to answer it.

_“Clarke? What the hell just happened?”_

“What are you talking about?”

_“Dude, the record book just shot a burst of this light-energy thing and broke all my dishes!”_

Clarke quieted and looked at Bellamy, standing there, biting his lip anxiously.

“Is there anything in that book about two travelers meeting?”

The line was silent for a minute, and then Raven spoke, _“I've never seen this page in the book until today-- it’s like it just appeared, it says that if two travelers are connected and find themselves in the same timeline, they can stop their circuit to remain together-- with a kiss.”_

Bellamy was searching her face for any kind of answer.

“Thanks Ray,”

 _“Wait, Clarke--”_ but Clarke had already hung up.

Bellamy’s face just screamed, _what is it?!_

“You don’t have to be alone anymore,” she whispered.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but before he could say anything she crashed back into him. Arms snaking up around his neck and fingers tangling into his hair. Bellamy wasted no time wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her flush against him.

Clarke pulled on his lip as he let out a soft groan, grabbing under her thighs so she could wrap her legs around his waist. Staggering backwards, he found the bed and dropped her down onto the mattress, hovering over her as heat radiated between them and their bodies moved together.

xv.

_December 2015_

Neither one of them had remained in one time for this long, and Clarke was beginning to believe their jump-life was over. They laid in bed, naked bodies entangling as she rest her head against his chest.

Bellamy let out soft snore as his breathing evened out with sleep. Clarke was still awake, idly tracing small shapes on his chest and listening to him breathe. He let a sort of grunt-snort and she smiled against his skin.

_She didn’t have to be alone anymore._

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me personally on [tumblr.](http://nathenmiller.tumblr.com)


End file.
